The Theater
by Nomad36
Summary: It's Christmas Day in Elmore and what better way to spend the day with your friends. For a certain coyote and wolverine, that's how they plan on spending their day, but obviously, something has to go wrong in the process.


**Another Outsider-Spinoff, once again this story will be after the events, so don't be surprised to see things being a little different than what you might expect. That being said, let's get to it then. ;)**

* * *

 **Outsider-Spinoff:**

The Theater

The chill winds of Christmas Day made Randal Locke shiver slightly as paced around on his porch waiting for any sign of the familiar face of a certain coyote. The charcoal gray wolverine was wearing more layers than he had at any point of his life, all topped off with a hideous orange hand-knitted sweater. Randal couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed about wearing this article of clothing, but in exchange for keeping himself warm, he would have to wear the hideous orange sweater. It was pretty early in the morning as there were orange blotches in the sky foretelling the sunrise that would occur in an hour or so. Layers of snow had begun to thin slightly, but it was still as cold and chilly as ever as the unyielding cold bit at Randal's face forcing him to rub the sides of his face to keep the biting cold temporarily at bay.

"Where could Jake be at this hour?" grumbled Randal watching his breath curl into ice streams and float into the air as chains of frost as he repeatedly rubbed his arms to keep warm.

"Enjoying the weather Randal?" asked a familiar voice as Randal turned to see Jake Wiley, snow was freckled on his fur as he brushed himself off. The coyote looked slightly older than the last time he had seen him, his fur was slightly darker due to the melted snow in his hair and seemed he had grown several inches though not that significant to notice a major difference without careful scrutiny.

"Jake, good to see you're here," said Randal smirking as the coyote fixed the heavy scarf he was wearing. Jake like Randal was wearing as many layers as possible with a much nicer turquoise sweater on and a pair of heavy snow boots on, stomping them heavily to knock off the heavy, packed snow that had accumulated on them.

"It's good to be here. Nice sweater by the way," snickered Jake, as he pointed at the hideous orange sweater. The wolverine was annoyed that the smaller coyote had taken notice to it.

"What? This was the Christmas gift I got from Mrs. Watterson," said Randal indignantly as he crossed his arms.

"Same here, but at least I don't look like a pumpkin wearing it," said Jake cracking up in amusement as the wolverine rolled his eyes.

"... Very funny," said Randal allowing Jake to get the laughter out of his system.

"Sorry, I just didn't expect you to be wearing a sweater like this," said Jake in between fits of laughter.

"I'm starting to regret putting this thing on," said Randal deadpanned.

"Come on, are we going to the theater or what?" said Jake, finally managing to control his laughter and managing to control his voice so it sounded casual.

"Hopefully we're not going to some crumby b-rated flick," said Randal, pulling his scarf over his mouth as they made their way down the street.

"So, Randal, buddy, how's life?" said Jake smiling as Randal dug uncomfortably at the collar of his sweater.

"Life is good, things are starting to look up for me now, and you know, things with my girlfriend are going well too," admitted Randal blushing slightly as Jake grinned at him.

"I'm glad you have her by your side," said Jake as they set off down the street making sure to cover every inch of skin from the cold as possible as the went down the street walking down to the theater. The road down to it was still cover in a thin layer of ice which did make walking slightly hazardous as Jake nearly fell over before Randal hauled him backward by grabbing his scarf.

"Thanks, Randal," said Jake as he balanced himself out again as the wolverine smile rubbing his scars.

"Don't mention it, I just wished these scars would stop aching, sometimes it gets annoying," stated Randal as the coyote placed a hand on his shoulder sympathetically, but also in order to help balance himself.

"You did something that was selfless, and I might even call it heroic, after all, it's a fresh start for you now, and thanks for trusting in me," said Jake comforting the wolverine.

"Well you had to go through your own fair share of adversity after all since I did make things a bit hard on you, along with you having to adjust to your new life here," said the charcoal gray wolverine as he made his way up to the counter which Larry was behind.

"Two tickets to Insurgent One," said Jake, placing ten dollars on the counter as the humanoid looked at them.

"Aren't you a little young to be seeing that movie?" asked Larry inquisitively as Jake crossed his arms.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the right age," insisted the dusty brown coyote, annoyed.

"Did you look at the poster? Thirteen and up," insisted Larry sliding the cash back over the counter.

"I am thirteen! I just turned thirteen about four months ago," said Jake scowling as Larry finally relented.

"Fine, I hope you enjoy the movie," as Larry gave them their tickets and the coyote and wolverine entered the theater, before moving over to the concession stand.

"You know I could have paid for the tickets," said Randal burying his paws in his pockets as Jake smiled at him.

"It was my idea for this little meet, so it's my treat, is there anything you want to snack on for the movie?" asked Jake again pulling out his wallet.

"Don't burn through all your money at once Jake, you never know when you might need it, here let me help pay-" said Randal before the coyote interrupted him with a wave of his hand.

"I have an allowance of seven-fifty a week, and I've been specifically been saving up for this little outing," insisted Jake putting his money on the counter again before he dissuaded the wolverine.

"Aren't the prices for popcorn and drinks a little steep for this place?" asked Randal, grimacing.

"Don't worry about it, my treat," said Jake buying Randal a large bowl of popcorn and a lemon soda as he handed both to Randal who had trouble balancing both in his paws as Jake ordered a smaller bin of popcorn and a root beer as he stepped off to the side and walked searching for theatre seven, which was where the ticket directed them to go.

The theater, it turned out was hidden quite well in a small niche in the corner of the lobby. As Jake pushed open the door for the pair of them as they stepped into the complete blackness that almost caused them to stumble thanks to the lack of light as the proceeded down to the ramp. Both searched diligently for spots where they could be seated until a pair of voices caught their attention.

"Hey Jake, over here!"

"It's us!"

Both the wolverine and coyote turned to see the silhouettes of Gumball and Darwin patting to the empty seats next to them apart from the very crowded theater. Randal seemed to hesitate at this as Jake started to walk over, forcing the charcoal gray wolverine to finally follow along.

"Are you sure about sitting with them?" asked Randal nonchalantly.

"I'm sure, and why are you so opposed to the idea of sitting with them?" inquired the dusty brown coyote as he moved over to let some other viewers by.

"It's not that," said Randal somewhat reluctantly and heavy-heartedly. "It's more the fact that I've had such a negative reputation with them as they've known me as your rival. I'm just not sure they'll like me is all."

"Randal, relax, and don't worry we're all here just to watch a movie so I'm sure they won't even notice you since they're going to be so entranced by it," said Jake sitting down.

The moment Randal walked over to take the seat in between Jake and Gumball the latter responded in fright.

"Uh, Jake, is- is that who I think it is?" asked the blue cat, shivering in fright as the wolverine rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Gumball, relax. Don't you remember Randal has mended his ways," said Darwin, interrupting the blue cat'a sudden fright upon seeing their friend's old rival in front of him.

"Right, I'm still getting used to seeing him so often," said Gumball awkwardly as he tried to strike up a conversation with the wolverine. "So, your scars look very scary."

"Gee thanks," said Randal sarcastically as he sat down crossing his arms.

"In my opinion, I think his scars have healed and are starting to look better," interrupted Darwin.

"In my opinion, they look slightly worse, however, it could be the lack of lighting in the theater that could be making the scars look worse beyond measure-"

"Will you guys stop talking about my scars, I'm right here you know," growled Randal annoyed at the fact they were still conversing about his scars as they started to play the trailers and the screen lit up.

"Well, you must admit that those scars don't exactly make you look friendly," admitted Gumball causing the wolverine to growl before Jake interrupted both of them.

"In case you haven't noticed, the movie is starting up, and I would recommend that we refrain from interrupting, as the audience won't want us making a scene."

"Right," said Gumball and Randal simultaneously avoiding eye contact with each other as they looked up at the screen.

Jake sighed. This was not turning out how he had planned, he wanted his newest friend to be able to get along with Gumball and Darwin. Then again, Randal had never been one to really cooperate as his cold and callous behavior tended to cause tension in his relationships. However he was beginning to open up and the brighter aspects of his personality were starting to shine through, though that didn't mean that his behavior wouldn't make it difficult for Jake to pick sides between his friends.

* * *

Fortunately, the others didn't say a word and Jake finally thought it was best to focus on the movie, which had moved to its first action scene were a small group of insurgents were preparing to ambush the trooper outpost in order to rescue some important recruits to their cause. It was a large action scene as laser blasts bounced off the walls and the heroes were pinned down. They were about to be surrounded on all sides and were almost captured when the film abruptly stopped.

"Well sorry, but your viewing of this film has expired," said the gravelly voice of Sal Left Thumb from the top of the viewing booth before hopping down and faceplanting on the floor below him.

"My dad told me about this guy," whispered Jake into Randal's ear as the grimy fingerprint moved down the rows toward them. "Apparently he isn't too bright!"

"Alright, time to pay up for the viewing!" said Sal sleazily as he held out his hand hoping to receive some cash from them as they just stared at him blankly.

"Where's Larry?" asked Gumball.

"Let's just say he's a little tied up," said the fingerprint chuckling. "Now give me your allowances peacefully, otherwise things will get ugly."

At that note, Sal whipped out his signature weapon, a rusty and a sticky spoon. Both Gumball and Darwin seemed to shrink back in their chairs in fear, however, Jake and Randal didn't even flinch.

"Oh please what are you going to serve me a spoonful of medicine?" asked Randal laughing as he took another mouthful of popcorn. The aggravated fingerprint used his spoon to knock the charcoal gray wolverine's popcorn over. "Hey, I was going to eat that!"

"I would recommend you shouldn't do that again, you won't like him when he's hangry," quipped Jake as the fingerprint rolled his eyes.

"And what is he going to do about it sucker?" asked Sal annoyed at the young boy's apparent obliviousness to who he was.

"Where's your cryo blaster? Did the police confiscate it?" asked Jake smirking as the grimy face of Sal Left Thumb burned with fury.

"Yes, but I managed to dig my way out of the prison walls using this spoon from the mess hall," said Sal his anger abating slightly. "Now if you're done delaying you'll hand over that cash."

"I don't think so, Randal," said Jake, nodding.

"It'll be a pleasure," said the wolverine getting up from his seat, punching the fingerprint square in the jaw sending him rolling backward into the next set of seats. This left the fingerprint dazed and confused as he tried to get up.

"Where are you little punks? You're going to pay for this!" said Sal temperamentally as he scanned the crowd for any signs of the four boys attempting to find them before he got a bin of popcorn chucked at his face hitting him hard and disarming him of his spoon as he hit the ground for the second time.

"Dude, he's disarmed, now we can maybe get the whole theater to over power him," said Gumball hopefully as he picked up Randal's lemon flavored soda.

"Wait, that's my-" said Randal too late as the blue cat chucked it at Sal Left Thumb preventing him from getting up as lemon soda and ice poured all over him as the lid was knocked off leaving him drenched. "Drink, that was my drink."

"So, it's just an overpriced theater good," said Gumball shrugging.

"Oh yeah, as soon as we get out of here I'm going to have you buy me the six dollar refill," said Randal crossing his arms before ducking as he, Jake, Gumball, and Darwin hit the sticky and gooey floor of the theater just as Sal passed by.

"Ugh! Do they ever clean this floor?" stated Jake appalled by the unsanitary conditions he was presented with. Unfortunately, all of the occupants of the theater had left in order to get away from Sal.

"One or twice a decade," admitted Gumball though Jake sincerely wished he was joking as he crawled on all fours through the grimy substances that could have been acquired after a decade of no cleaning being done on the floors.

"Gee, that's good to know," said Randal sarcastically as he brushed away the sticky chunks of soda, bubblegum, and popcorn that were melded together on the floor. "If I ever get out of this sticky situation I'm throttling you Gumball."

"All over a spilt drink?"

"Yes."

"You sure can hold a grudge Randal," said Gumball maneuvering through the grimy floor and keeping low to the ground. "Follow my lead, we should be out of this in no time!"

"You and your excellent sense of direction," muttered Randal under his breath. "You think the others would care about what's going on."

"They're too afraid of how he might use that spoon," said Jake rolling his eyes at this. "This town is seriously weird."

"Try growing up here," interjected Randal almost catching the attention of the grimy fingerprint as he passed their row for the second time.

"How are we going to stop him now? He's recovered his spoon and it looks like he means business this time."

"Let's try a new approach," stated Darwin. "Jake, Randal, do you think you could hold him down?"

"I don't see why we're down here in the first place. So if this means that we're going to catch Sal off guard then count me in," said Randal cracking his knuckles as a grin broke out across his face.

"Don't underestimate Sal, he has a reputation for knowing how to use a spoon in sticky situations. Wait, that's it!" said Gumball as if he had a sudden epiphany. "You guys keep him occupied, Darwin and I have something to do!"

"We do?" asked Darwin not catching on.

"Yes we do, now come on, we can't afford to be waiting here all day," said Gumball rushing up from his hiding spot.

"So how do you want to approach this Jake?" asked Randal, dusting himself as he raised himself into a crouching position in an unoccupied row of seats.

"I think I have a plan," said Jake pensively. "You'll have to take a bit of a risk. Do you think you can grab him?"

"I know I can," stated Randal, confidently. "I just need the right opportunity."

"Alright, let's do this!" said Jake preparing. "Ready!"

Randal nodded leaving his eyes just over the rim of the seat in front of him as Sal passed in front him. Randal leaped from the seats grabbing Sal and tugging the rusty spoon from his hand as he knocked him to the ground putting his foot on his chest to prevent him from moving.

"Well, that was easy," said Randal brightly as unknown to him the fingerprint was slipping on a pair of gloves that seemed to light up as he put them on and they immediately heated up like a hot stove as he grabbed Randal's foot causing it to sear with pain as Randal tried to shake the grimy fingerprint off of him. The smell of burning fur made Randal gag as he finally kicked Sal off of him.

"Talk about a serious burn!" said Sal smiling with amusement as the wolverine hopped around on one foot to cool off the burning sensation he was experiencing.

"You seriously need to work on your puns," said Jake attempting to kick the fingerprint. However, he was prepared this time and blocked his face with his gloves which burned the coyote's foot just as badly. "Ouch, I really stepped into that one didn't I!"

"Yeah, you did sucker!" exclaimed Sal as he flung the small coyote back into the same seats he had emerged from.

"I don't think we can get the jump on him, not while he's got those hot mittens on," said Jake shaking off the stinging him foot as Randal plopped down next to him.

"I think I have an idea for this time," said Randal, still shaking his foot in an effort to put on the fur on his foot that was still on fire and burning slowly.

"What might that be?" said Jake raising his eyebrow as the wolverine took off his orange sweater and started to attempt to tear it apart. "Yeah, I get it, you really hate that sweater, are you actually going to tell me your plan then?"

"This IS my plan," stressed Randal as he dismantled the sweater unceremoniously. "We can use this a small layer of protection against his gloves and then use it to tie his hands together. Please don't tell Mrs. Watterson this is what I did with her sweater."

"I'm very impressed, that is some good impromptu thinking," said Jake complimenting the charcoal gray wolverine as he wrapped his hands up in the sweater remnants.

"It's a pretty crappy plan in my opinion, but it's the best we got, maybe Gumball will be able to help us on, unless if he's already turned tail and ran," said Randal somewhat bitterly and Jake was reminded of the events last year when he and Jake were still enemies.

"Don't worry, Gumball and Darwin will have our backs," said Jake trying to reassure Randal as he scoffed slightly.

"Here's hoping, come on, let's just finish this," said Randal leaping over the seats once again to confront Sal.

"Always hopping into the fray," sighed Jake, walking out of the row as noticing how the whole theater seemed to be empty because the threat of Sal which made Jake scoff. He had only had a spoon, he didn't know what all the hubbub was about when it came to that, but his set of thermal gloves were more frightening than any utensil.

He noticed Randal was already sneaking up on Sal unnoticed as his grabbed the thermal gloves and quickly disarmed him of them knocking them across the floor, though it did sear the wolverine's paws painfully as he tied the grimy fingerprints hands together, to keep him from reaching his gloves with a bit of his sweater. As an insult to injury, the wolverine kicked him so he would tumble over the seats.

"Was that really necessary?" questioned Jake as Randal smirked.

"Maybe not, it felt good though," said Randal pleased with himself.

"You little suckers!" yelled Sal struggling as he tried to get out of the row he was stuck in.

Just then Jake noticed something at the top row of the theater. He smirked as he met Gumball's eye.

"Is that-" said Randal as Jake cut him off.

"Yep, stand clear, Gumball and Darwin have got this," said Jake moving to the side.

"Alright," said the charcoal gray wolverine moving over as a ball of all things foul collected from the movie theater rolled past them and onto the grimy fingerprint covering him with the gooey substance.

"Aah, what is this stuff?" asked Sal screaming frightened at the gooey substance he found on top of him.

"It's everything foul accumulated after a long time in this theater, at least it's enough to wrap you up," said Gumball laughing at his own pun while Jake and Randal facepalmed in disappointment.

"As far as puns go, that was one of the worst," muttered Jake under his breath. "Grif would be thoroughly disappointed."

"Well, I guess I was wrong about you two," admitted Randal somewhat sheepishly as Gumball turned to him.

"Is this an apology?" asked the blue cat surprised.

"Yes, I guess I wasn't as trusting of you as I could have been, but then again, I'm still getting used to mending my ways, but thanks to friends like you, I find easier to hang out as a group, so I just wanted to thank you for that," said Randal somewhat humbled at this.

"All you needed were some good friends and a pretty face to help you see the good things in life," said Jake grinning upon mentioning Randal's girlfriend.

"Yeah, well, I still think she deserves better than me, to be honest, but I see your point," admitted Randal.

"Don't be so tough on yourself, I'm sure that your girlfriend would have it any other way Randal," said Jake, as Randal gave an insecure smile.

"Thanks, Jake."

"Now, we should probably tell the theater's security that they have an intruder. And we need to finish seeing Insurgent One," said Gumball, walking towards the exit of the theater.

"You do realize you still own me a drink right?"

"I'll be back..." said Gumball shaking his head.

* * *

 **Another spin-off down! This is the last one I've got in mind, at least for a while. If I get other ideas around certain holidays or new character orientated spin-offs I will be sure to write them.**

 **Nomad's Notes:**

 **-This spin-off was supposed to be up by Christmas, but unfortunately, due to delays in my schedule, I didn't really have the opportunity to get it up, though I do hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas or other holidays they celebrate.**

 **-Yes, the name of the movie that they were seeing was a reference to a certain anthology film for a popular movie series in a galaxy far far away. ;D**

 **-There were quite a few puns in this chapter, hopeful I put less in future chapters and spin-offs.**

 **-Yes, Randal does have a girlfriend, as for who it is, my lips are sealed as it will be revealed in The Outsider. So you can expect to see her soon in the future.**

 **-I wanted to show Jake and Randal's future friendship and Randal mending his ways. It was fun writing them as friends who have each other's backs as opposed to rivals who are constantly at odds.**


End file.
